Darrell Winters still competing on horseback at 70

Life-long cowboy Darrell Winters

By Ted Escobar

Photos courtesy Darrell Winters

WHITE SWAN — The first Yakima Valley Team Penning Club competition of the 2019 season is set for March 23-24 at Specks Arena in Sunnyside, and you can expect 70-year-old Darrell Winters to be there.

Expect Winters to compete at the highest level. He’s been aging well, taking 3rd in open class individual point standings in 2018. He finished 2nd in 2016.

“Years and injuries do affect performance, but when it's time to win, lets get it done,” Winters said recently.

Winters is still in cowboy shape. With a rigid back, the linebacker-sized Winters sits tall in the saddle and commands his horse as if the two had been born a matched pair.

“Darrell has consistently done well in the Club because he has a competitive personality and a drive to win,” Club President Mark Crowley said. “He rides quality horses year after year.”

Team penning is a ranching skill turned into a sport. It is not as strenuous as some rodeo events, but it’s tough enough. You must be a good rider and have a well-trained, well-conditioned horse to be among the winners.

To be successful, a penner must be good at working with others. Three-person teams change continually at meets. At no time can two identical teams ride together unless it is the result of the draw.

“Darrell has the ability to ride with a variety of teammates who have changed over the years,” Crowley said.

A rider’s scoring depends on the abilities of partners he or she draws.

Darrell Winters and Buddy work as one during team penning competition.

“Final standings do not always tell the whole story,” YVTPC member and booster Connie Hauver said. “A rider might have missed some events because of health or horse issues. Lots of luck involved with this sport too, and if you are unlucky enough to get "cow-killed" (bad cow draw) over several events, it can drastically affect the results and final standings.”

Winters is part of a family that grew up competing. His oldest brother Bob was a quarterback at University of  Utah. His brother Ralph was a defensive back at Washington. Darrelll played football for Wenatchee Valley College and Yakima Valley College.

All of the Winters boys were all-around athletes at White Swan High School. Darrell played football, basketball and baseball for the Cougars and was on the hoops team that played for the state title in 1967, finishing second to Prosser in an all-Yakima Valley final.

“I grew up competing and love it,” Winters said.

Winters continued to compete after college — on horseback. He played polo and trained polo ponies in the 70s through the 90s.

“Darrell is a tough, fierce competitive rider with no quit in him, and he expects no less of his partners,” Hauver said.

That’s Winters’ tough side. He also has a soft side.

“He is a strong supporter of our youth riders and helps them learn the game at every event by riding with them and providing guidance and instruction,” Hauver said.

Winters was the organization’s adult youth champion rider  in 2013.

According to team penning sources, there are more than 90,000 participants across North America. It is widely believed the sport was created by brothers Ray and Joe Yañez and Bill Scwindt during a lunch break after sorting steers from a herd on a California ranch in 1942.

Darrell Winters waves to a fellow rider while chatting with YVTPC member Marvin Bright.

The YVTPC has more than 100 members. Winters said there were 26 the first year, 1996. He said the club is open to anyone who likes to compete on horseback, families included.

Riders are rated from 1-6 to make competition equitable. As a 6, Winters must compete in the open (professional or top amateur) class. So must a 5. Riders of lower ranking may compete in a higher class if they choose.

The top ranking doesn’t come by accident. Winters has been riding since he was a boy, growing up on the family ranch in the Harrah-White Swan area.

“Always loved working with horses and cattle,” he said. “I started riding at a young age, working our cattle, helping neighbors with  theirs and riding with family and friends.”

In addition to competing, Winters is involved in the business end of team penning. He owns one of the two arenas used by the YVTPC. He also provides the stock.

“He has a continued willingness to host team pennings and is the longest continuing host for YVTPC,” Crowley said.

“Besides hosting Club pennings four  times a year, Darrell and his wife Patty open up their home to out of town team penners and let them stay in extra bedrooms, always making them feel at home,” Hauver said.

According to Winters, the best size of cattle to use is from 500-700 pounds. Beef cattle are preferred. He buys 120-150 head of cattle weighing in the 500-550-pounds range, mostly from dairies. He keeps them about six months, then sells them to feedlots when they weigh 750-800 pounds.

“Darrell has a good understanding of cattle, how to get them to move the way he wants them to move,” Crowley said.

The quarter horse is preferred by team penning riders, Winters said. They are more suited for the cuts required of the horse to keep ahead of wild yearling cattle.

The standard arena for team penning is 200 feet by 100 feet, Winters said. There is a small pen at one end, with an even smaller door, into which the penning is done.

For competition, the cattle are employed in herds of 30. They all wear numbers, from 0-9 so that there are three of each number. Although they are trying to outdo each other, teams compete against the cattle and not other teams.

Darrell Winters and his horse Buddy drive a calf to the pen.

The competition starts with the herd at the open end of the arena. A judge raises a flag, a timer says “flag's up,” and a team of three rides toward the herd.

The flag is dropped when the first rider crosses the foul (about half) line. That’s when the timer calls out the number of the three animals the team must sort out and pen.

The objective is to pen those three animals only. If more than one animal of another number crosses the foul line before the penning is complete, the team is disqualified.

There is a tight time limit. The team must have cattle penned within this time or be disqualified. The objective is to pen all three of the designated cattle in the least amount of time possible.

The YVTPC stages eight events per year. There is an awards banquet at the end of the season.

“There’s a lot of good riders, and the competition is high,” Winters said.